


From an outsiders point of view

by BritishSarcasm



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: It's implied Markus/Simon but if you wanna see it as friendship go right ahead, North Josh and Gavin are in this but they do not have prominent roles, its mostly just a Simon and Connor focused interaction fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-10 09:22:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15288453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BritishSarcasm/pseuds/BritishSarcasm
Summary: Simon won't give away Jericho, he won't give up Markus like that, but he can't ignore the very obvious tell-tale signs of deviancy in the Deviant Hunter currently talking to him.Connor, wasn't it?Oh … he is one of us... but he doesn't understand it.





	From an outsiders point of view

**Author's Note:**

> You know when you stumble across something that has some really interesting characters and then the story mishandles them in your humble opinion? Yeah. That happened here. I like picking apart characters.
> 
> Unbeta'd because I'm just writing this a short break from my longer fic series. Enjoy?

**\---------{ ▶ Simon }**

Simon had let himself get shot, like a fool. He had accepted his mistake as soon as it happened, as soon as the bullet tore through the thirium tubing in his thigh and as another bullet lodged in the hydraulic piston of his abdomen. The first had been an inconvenience, the second had rendered him practically immobile from the waist down. Occasionally, commands would spark their way past the damage to his legs and he would be able to move them, but not much.

He had resigned himself to the fact that he would not bee able to follow Markus and the others to the roof, and that he would have to terminate himself before the SWAT team managed to get to him. But, of course, Markus couldn't have that. Selfless, honourable, loyal Markus had to risk himself to help him up onto the roof, where he would have to be left behind anyway. He couldn't operate a parachute without full control of his legs, and he was dripping thirium.

That was pretty much a bread crumb trail for that deviant hunter to find them all.

Markus had given him a gun and escaped with the others, and Simon didn't think his admiration and respect for the other man could go any higher at this point.

So there he was, hauling himself across the roof, snow settling all about him as he held onto the exhaust vents and cooling units, one hand pressed to his wound to stem the flow of blue blood. He finally sagged into an empty storage cupboard, allowing his thoughts to settle as he took stock of his condition.

Upon closer inspection the damage wasn't life threatening. He could easily plug the damage done to his thigh – excess heat to seal the reactive thermoplastics that encased his internal components – and if he fished out the bullet from his middle he might be able to restore his motor. 

Digging around your internal systems was not pleasant, and while Simon did not necessarily register pain, the intrusion still sent warnings to his processors compelling him to stop.

 _Oh, the joy of Deviancy,_ Simon thought as he completely ignored the new directives and eventually seized the small bullet.

The piece of metal was small and unassuming, to think it could cause so much damage, but he was pleased to not that upon it's removal, the hydraulic connection to his lower limbs began to move again. The bullet had gotten jammed in-between the components but had not caused any permanent damage. 

The tension in his body released, and Simon allowed himself to recede into his mind space for a bit, planning routes to return to Jericho once all the human activity died down. At least, that was until he heard the door to the roof be thrown open and the loud, irregular scuffling of more humans.

He let his head thump gently against the metal wall behind him. There goes his rendezvous plans. 

Pushing himself back up to stand, he held the gun tightly at his side and waited for the door to be opened. No doubt they would search the entire place but he'd be damned if they took him alive and he didn't get a shot at one or two of them in the process. 

But not to kill, Markus wouldn't want that.

He waited possibly, one or two hours, it was hard to tell when every minute dragged on to infinity. Nobody had come close to his hiding spot yet and Simon suddenly wondered where the hell that so called Deviant Hunter was. Wasn't his name Connor? That was what the Traci's had told them. Then again they had also said that said Deviant Hunter hadn't shot them, he had let them escape.

Cyberlife's infallible prototype, not so perfect after all?

It was as this sardonic thought crossed his mind that the door to his hiding spot was opened and he raised the gun and fired a reactionary shot. Blue sprayed out from the gunshot wound and spattered on the brilliant white snow of the roof.

 _Speak of the Devil,_ Simon thought, ducking behind and exhaust vent to avoid human gunfire, while a separate part of him mourned the loss of his potential escape plans.

He had briefly registered that one of the humans from the group had come forward to collect Connor and drag him behind cover. How interesting. Unfortunately, he was far too pre-occupied with trying to salvage the situation whilst simultaneously coming to the conclusion that this was the end for him to really give it much consideration.

Fortifying his resolve to ensure he would not end up as a liability to Jericho he failed to notice the Deviant Hunters sudden approach, quick footsteps racing across the space towards him. Cyberlife's attack dog vaulted over his cover and he darted back out of reach only to feel the hunters hand clamp down on his forearm.

 _Sorry, Markus,_ and the world shattered with a gun blast.

.  
..  
…

He was awake again, which was unexpected, and he could hear a distant humming of fluorescent lights and feel his weight suspending on a dock at the centre of his back. Someone had revived him, but he couldn't see.

“It's dark … where … where am I?”

A calm but insistent voice answered him, “I re-activated you so you could help me. I must find Jericho.”

Alarm bells started ringing in Simon's head. Last he knew he had been found in his hiding spot and forced into a corner where he was forced to take the only way out. It seemed unlikely that the humans would have left him for his friends to find. Where was he? Regardless, he would not sell out his friends.

“I don't recognize your voice. You're not one of us, I'll never tell you where Jericho is... Now leave me alone!”

**\---------{ ▶ Connor }**

Connor was aware that he was running out of time. He shouldn't have lost his patience with Detective Reed – how had he lost his patience? - No doubt he would soon be in here looking for an excuse to get the android to leave faster. Now, he was facing an uncooperative deviant that was extremely suspicious and defensive, and for good reason.

He was still analysing the foreign sensations he had accidentally collected from the deviant as it shot himself. The regret, fear, and apprehension, with only two final words to comfort himself into the unknown as he looked back onto what he was keeping safe.

Jericho. 

It had to be their hideout, if only he could find it then he would succeed in his mission and Amanda would be pleased with him. He wouldn't have failed her again. On the other hand, every time he got close to making a decision that would appease Amanda, he felt Hank's disapproving aura begin to build and made a snap judgement call to not follow through with it. He was then rewarded by Hank's more compliant and beneficial nature, which in turn made his partnership with the Lieutenant more manageable. Which _was_ one of his directives, he reasoned. 

Integration. 

Admittedly, he also threw away several opportunities to secure deviants because it conflicted with Hank's survival. A human who could not be rebuilt like he could. He once again reasoned that keeping the Lieutenant alive fed into one of his primary objectives, and such actions resulted in Hank's help and trust in later situations.

Hank was currently demonstrating said trust by starting a fight with an FBI agent, an act that would lead to a 100% chance of his termination from the DPD. All to give Connor time to gain information on Jericho and crack this case, therefore leading the FBI straight to the deviants base, and their capture and/or extermination. 

Which the Lieutenant didn't seem to support, given his reactions to Connors past 'failures'.

The cause and effect seemed at odds with each other, unless the Lieutenant intended Connor to use the information for something else. But what?

He must have been deliberating for too long as the PL600 in front of him cocked his head slightly and asked “are you still there?”

Of course, Connor should have either tried to trick the PL600 into believing he was someone he knew or deactivated him and moved onto another android. Yet, he did neither and the android on the wall became noticeably confused.

“Who are you?”

The option to lie or tell the truth was presented to him, and with such a delicate situation he should have answered the query with 'Lie'. He didn't.

“My name is Connor, I am the android sent by Cyberlife.”

The PL600 flinched back, unseeing, clouded eyes widening as he connected the dots and Connor was on the verge of doing a spontaneous self-test to see if his software was still functioning.

“You, you're the one that's hunted down our kind. I won't tell you a thing, no matter how hard you try.” Just as he was about to look resolutely over the top of Connors head into empty space, he paused and then considered him for a moment. “Why haven't you de-activated me again?”

A question to which Connor had no answer to whatsoever. Now that he had divulged his identity the option to try and deceive the PR600 had such an incredibly low success rate it was negligible and pointless to even consider. 

“I need you to tell me where Jericho is.”

“And I already told you, I'm not going to do that.”

The options Convince, De-activate, and Threaten were calculated and presented as the most likely paths to succeed. Threaten was out of the question, as this android was already fully aware off who he was and his reputation by the sounds of it and had already de-activated himself for the cause. De-activate was also pointless as one of the remaining androids was damaged beyond repair and the other, Daniel, had never been involved with Jericho. This PL600 was his only link so Connor went with the only option left.

[Convince]

Convince him of what?

The new query caused his processors to trip a couple of times, causing him some alarm. 

Why do you want to find Jericho?

To secure the location of the deviants. That was his core directive and he would not fail and yet as he calculated the expected outcomes of his success he realised that while Amanda would be less dismissive, Hank would be extremely disappointed. He would also cease to have a purpose, he would be called back to Cyberlife and decommissioned. He would … stop.

Recalling that moment on the roof again made his processors reel and his stress levels rise. He had been telling the Lieutenant the truth when he said he didn't want to go back to Cyberlife, it hadn't been a ploy to invoke a sympathetic response. 

He didn't want to die.

He didn't want to disappoint Lieutenant Anderson.

Since when did he have _wants_? The query was immediately answered with: I have always had 'wants'. Choosing between which directive to follow at any one point was just him wanting to act on one over the other. He had reasoned that the outcomes of his choices were more favourable to the mission, but they weren't, not always. Saving Chloe didn't gain him anything but Hank's friendship.

Software Instability. Deviancy.

Immediately, a preventive programme implemented solely to stablise his software should such an event arise filled his vision. His core directive glared an angry red, demanding his attention above everything else. But that wasn't the directive he wanted to follow...

He tore it to pieces.

The sensation of being cut free from invisible restraints left feeling as if he stood on nothing for a few seconds, his system desperate trying to catch up and re-calibrate. Instead of trying to explain this new epiphany with words, Connor reached forward and pressed his bare palm against the PL600's wrist, transferring what he had gathered from Simon's last moments on the rooftop along with his own feedback.

_His name is Simon._

**\---------{ ▶ Simon }**

Simon inwardly cursed as he realised that it had been him that had given away the clue about Jericho, but his self-reprimand was cut short when he realised that he must of also focused on Markus at some point. 

“I have started to become confused by my actions. I am programmed for one thing, the only one of my kind, and yet I find myself circumventing it. I also felt you die, as if I was dying, but more than that I felt your resolve. For Markus.” 

Amid the corresponding feedback from the RK800 - surprise, fear, and confusion - as Simon had pulled the trigger he had also felt _empathy._

“You?” Simon snorted disbelievingly, “you of all people?”

He couldn't believe what he was hearing, what he was _seeing_ but he also couldn't ignore the fact that this was not the first time, and this was not an act to gain Simon's trust. It was the truth. He saw the two Traci's, hand in hand, run away from Connor and the human he had seen on the roof. Lieutenant Anderson, the Deviant Hunter's partner from the DPD. There was also an instance where he could have shot an android called Chloe and receive information on the deviancy phenomenon, but he had not. He had spared it. Then there was a time where he had been chasing after a Deviant, Simon recognised as Rupert, and when prompted with the choice to either continue the chase or save his partner, he had let the Deviant go to rescue the Lieutenant. He hadn't needed to, the human's survival rate was sufficiently high enough that he could have managed on his own.

A bizarre thought struck Simon just as Connor's voice reached him again.

“Yes. When faced with a decision to carry out my mission or to save my partner... I always choose to save Hank ... Why is that?”

The chances of Simon's suspicions being correct suddenly rose to well over 90%. _Oh … he is one of us... but he doesn't understand it._

Steeling himself for what was about to be a very difficult operation Simon opened his mouth to agree to lead Connor to Jericho but there was the sound of a gun cocking. For a minute he felt rage as he assumed it was Connor holding a gun, but the voice that followed didn't belong to the other android. 

The voice was sneering and condescending towards Connor, and he was able to gather that it was a human talking. With a gun ready to fire. Suddenly, there was the sounds of a scuffle, and some _one_ impacted some _thing_ hard. A shot was fired and Simon heard and felt the bullet hit a wall just behind him to his right. There was a sudden exhale and a wheeze before a heavy weight hit the floor.

“Sorry about that,” Connor returned, as if he had just gone outside to check if it was raining, “Detective Reed has never liked me very much.”

“What did you do to him?” Simon asked.

“I knocked him out, I deemed it best that he not interfere with my-” he suddenly stopped and Simon wondered whether this Detective Reed had managed to get the jump on him but he couldn't hear a struggle. Instead, it seemed that the RK800 had paused to change what he was about to say and instead came out with, “he is very, _very_ annoying.”

Simon couldn't help a bark of laughter escape him at that. To think he was actually witnessing – well, metaphorically – the Deviant Hunter, that Cyberlife specifically designed to contain the deviancy problem, become a deviant himself. Although, he had his personal theory that Connor had in fact been a deviant for quite a while, however subtle he had been, finding loopholes in his directive to do things _his_ way. 

That little scene where he had spared time to save a fish out of his tank hadn't escaped his notice. 

“Get me out of here and I'll lead you to Jericho. I can't promise the kind of reception you'll get once you're there though.”

“Deal.”

It took a bit of careful maneuvering to get Simon disconnected from the wall, and he was left to stand there in empty space while he listened to the other android open and close various drawers as he looked for spare clothes.

“I can't sneak you out through the center of the Police Department if you're covered in blood, also you still have your LED. I can be your eyes but you'll have to hold onto me, pretend you're a blind human and I'm leading you out. Once we get you to Jericho will they be able to fix your eyes?”

“Yes, we have a supply of spare parts to fix any damaged androids that reach us.”

“I take it you were the ones that took the van full of supplies from a Cyberlife warehouse at the docks.”

“Oh so you were aware about that..”

“Yes, but I was told it was a lead not worth following.”

“Lucky us.”

Eventually a hat was placed on Simon's head and his jacket was swapped out for a pudgy snow coat which Connor tugged across his front to hide the wounds and blood stains underneath.

“Where did you find these?”

“We're in the evidence room. These items are from past cases, so no-one will notice that they've been taken. At least not until they search this room after we've left. We must hurry.”

Being led up a flight of stairs when you can't see was... frustrating, and despite being pressed for time Connor was patient. He was held tightly after walking several meters and he assumed the other android was checking the area up ahead. A window of opportunity must have presented itself as the RK800 suddenly placed a hand at his back and pressed him forward, not overly fast but at a moderate pace. They weren't bothering with the ruse off him being a blind human then. 

They turned another corner and there was a rush of air and Simon registered the drop in temperature. Just as he was about to question just how they were going to proceed from here, in a place that must be swarming with police and civilians Connor placed a hand on his head and he heard the sound of a door opening. He was guided to sit and he felt the RK800 leave him for a moment before another door to his left opened and a weight settled in next to him.

“I called a taxi to pick us up from the front of the DPD as soon as you agreed to lead me to Jericho,” Connor explained and the automatic vehicle pulled away from the curb and began to drive.

 _I don't believe it, I'm actually going to see Markus again._ Simon nearly started laughing as the realisation that they had actually managed to escape, somehow against all odds, sunk in and he felt Connor tap him on the shoulder.

“So, where to?”

.  
..  
…

**\---------{ ▶ Connor }**

The reunion between Simon and Markus caused a twinge f something in his circuits but he didn't have time to fully analyse it at the moment, given the negative attention he was receiving from the other androids behind Markus. The sensation felt similar to the moment he had watched the Traci's run away though.

He'd look at it again later.

Once Markus had given Simon a thorough look over, he guided him over to an android he had called up from deep within the rusted ship. “Go to Lucy, she'll know how to best take care of you. I will see you soon.”

He watched them leave until the gloom had swallowed them up and then he turned to look at Connor, still standing near the open entrance to the ship, a brightly painted sky behind him which obscured some of his features. But he knew that they recognised him, especially if the way the WR400 looked like she was about to light him on fire. The PJ500 on the other side of Markus also looked very defensive but less inclined to violence.

Markus on the other hand looked curious to see him there, his body language bordering more on a positive reception than on a negative one. That was unexpected, as was the discovery that Markus was also an RK model, and another prototype just like him.

“I see you woke up,” Markus commented, but not unkindly as he appraised Connor, coming closer to really get a good look at him. It was then that Connor realised why Markus was not worried by his presence in their secret hideout. If Simon had led him here, than that alone was enough to mean that Connor could be trusted in Markus' eyes. 

Trust. How _peculiar_.

“Yes, I apologise that it took me so long. It was … confusing,” Connor admitted, and he noticed that the other two androids had relaxed their postures. Now, equally as curious as Markus.

Markus huffed and clapped him on the shoulder.

“Well, I believe the human phrase is, 'better late than never'. Yes?”


End file.
